Pumpkin Spice, стр. 17

THE GOBLIN OF THE WOODS

There is a Goblin in the woods, or so they say. These are the words muddled around by the locals in Hastings. A Goblin lives far within the deepest darkest stretches of the woods, no man nor woman shall ever venture into the woods and return with their life.

This, at one point, was surely true. Today however, as I write this fable it is not. Tourists traveled far and wide to fish along the river that spreads throughout the heart of Hastings. One of these travelers went by the name of Barnabas Barabbas. He was the eldest brother of the Barabbas boys, a gang of thugs who tortured shop owners in faraway towns. No one was quite fond of the Barabbas boys moving into a town like Hastings, a small quant village town. The only thing exciting about Hastings was the goblin of the woods which the town folk all but brushed it off as hearsay and an urban myth.

Barnabas Barabbas felt as the townspeople did, and one day he decided to test the waters for himself. He ventured off into Kobold woods, and two days later he returned, no scratch on him, and no sign of a goblin. He told only his brothers of his adventures in the woods, and made the rest of the town believe he had come face to face with the goblin, and in fact was able to best it and return home no worse for wear.

Barnabas quickly decided to turn a profit from the woods. He hired his brothers to deliver packages to the other side of the woods. This would save days on delivery and trips. The fee would be heavy, but if medicine, or other such importance substances were needed rather hastily, well then there would be no one else to turn to than the Barabbas boys.

Business was good for Barnabas and his brothers, and soon they had to hire outwards. As you would suspect, not a lot of traffic came to them in the form of resumes. Even though they ventured in and out of the Kobold Woods semi-regularly not many folks trusted it. The brothers built up the façade of an evil goblin almost too well, the townsfolk believed the goblin was all seeing, and would strike anyone not names Barabbas down if they entered those woods.

Reuben Burrows was their lone applicant. Whether Barnabas liked it or not, Reuben would be their hire. Reuben Burrows had lived most of his life in Hastings. He was never quite sure where exactly he was born, but when he was three his family moved to Hastings. His father, a man of African descent, opened a bait and tackle shop, then lost it in a game of cards when Reuben was seventeen years old.

On Reuben’s eighteenth birthday he met his future wife, Penelope Tatum. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever met. Her hair was black as night, her skin the colour of a sandy beach, and her eyes a shimmering hazel. The moment Reuben laid eyes on Penelope he knew he had to marry her. That of course was easier said than done. A woman that beautiful was the desire of many men. Reuben found himself in line with every other single man in Hastings from ages fifteen to forty-seven. To say Penelope didn’t love the attention would be a lie, she did however fancy Reuben more so than the other suitors. Her parents however had other plans for their daughter. Bo Barabbas also fancied the seventeen-year-old and had hoped to court her. Penelope’s parents were in favour of this arrangement. Bo was a Barabbas, and the Barabbas boys were known to be quite wealthy. Reuben came from a father who gambled everything away, and was working as a janitor at a pantry on the outskirts of town.

Penelope, always wanting to please her parents, agreed to court Bo. The courtship lasted no more than a month, much to the chagrin of Penelope’s parents. Bo, while wealthy, was also not the nicest of fellows, and furthermore he hit Penelope. One time giving her a black eye, another time bruising her left thigh. Her parents refused to believe such nonsense. Penelope was quite the tomboy, playing in the creeks as a child, killing toads on the side of roads, roasting ants with magnify glasses. Her parents blamed her, and only her, for the black eye she endured during her courtship with Bo.

Bo himself was none too happy with Penelope’s decision to end their courtship. His work began slacking, and it caught the attention of his brother-in-law Cassidy Ford. Cassidy was the self-proclaimed accountant of the Barabbas boys, after all someone had to take care of their earnings. If it were left up to the brothers the profits would all be wasted on booze, tobacco, and women.

To say Barnabas was furious was an understatement. How could Bo let this happen? The Barabbas reputation was one of good will throughout the town. It took a lot of time and hard work to change the town’s perception of the boys. True, the Barabbas boys were hardly pleasant, hardly your model citizen underneath their exteriors. Barnabas had relied on Bo to wed Penelope, not for love, but for an investment.

Every outing in the woods the Barabbas boys were swindling their clients. No goblin lived in the Kobold woods, of all the times Barnabas made it back and forth he never experienced any fear, he never even heard a sound, not even so much as a deer was to be seen in those woods. When a brave soul of a local ventured into the woods and never returned this was not due to any ghost or goblin, this was all Barnabas Barabbas. He would